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Denier Bracteate - Wenceslaus I large

Issuer Kingdom of Bohemia
Year 1230-1253
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Technique Hammered (bracteate)
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Obverse description Frontal enthroned figure of King Wenceslaus I depicted in high relief within a beaded inner circle, wearing a crown surmounted by a cross and flanked by stylized foliage or fleur-de-lis finials. The royal effigy is shown with both arms raised or extended to the sides, rendered in the Romanesque artistic style typical of Bohemian bracteates of the mid-13th century. The flan is characteristically thin and irregular, with the design struck in shallow but expressive relief across the entire obverse field.
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Reverse description Uniface coin with a plain, blank reverse, as is characteristic of bracteate coinage. The thin silver flan shows only the incuse mirror impression of the obverse design, inherent to the single-die hammered bracteate technique.
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Additional information

Wenceslaus I ruled Bohemia during a period of intense German colonization, deliberately invited to repopulate regions devastated by Mongol incursions in 1241. The thin, single-sided bracteate fabric was already declining elsewhere in Central Europe by this point, making these late Bohemian examples something of an anachronism — the type persisted here well after it had been abandoned by neighboring mints.

Cach 710 is among the larger bracteate dies attributed to this reign, distinguished from the smaller variants in the same sequence by die axis and flan preparation rather than design alone.

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